Last Tuesday, it was the inability to make open shots at home and execute late on defense.
Saturday, BYU’s problem was even more apparent: The Cougars forgot how to take care of the ball.
Committing 16 turnovers, including a few down the stretch that were absolute killers, BYU fell 71-67 to TCU in front of 4,752 inside sleepy Schollmaier Arena in a Big 12 game the slumping Cougars absolutely had to have on their NCAA Tournament resume.
Four days after BYU failed to finish in a 72-67 loss to Texas Tech at home, it was rinse and repeat in Fort Worth. After taking a 67-65 lead on Richie Saunders’ free throws with 1:44 remaining, the Cougars were held scoreless the rest of the way as TCU put together a 6-0 run to remain undefeated (9-0) at home.
The futile stretch for BYU (10-5, 1-3) included Saunders stepping out of bounds with a little more than a minute left and a point-blank missed layup by Fousseyni Traore with about 45 seconds left.
There was also an awful shot attempt — Egor Demin’s twisting 3-point try — after TCU had taken a 69-67 lead on Noah Reynolds’ slashing drive, and bucket over Mawot Mag, who otherwise played a sensational defensive game.
Down the stretch, TCU had a go-to guy (Reynolds, who had 21 points) and BYU simply did not for the second-straight game. Aside from the late turnover, Saunders was brilliant for BYU with 26 points on 9 of 13 shooting, but he was the only Cougar in double figures.
“It was the turnovers (that cost BYU the game),” coach Kevin Young told the BYU Sports Radio Network. “That was really the bottom line. … If I had to point to one thing that hurt the most, I would say turnovers. That is hard to overcome.”
In snapping its 17-game losing streak to BYU that dated back to 1997, TCU (9-6, 2-2) turned the 16 Cougar turnovers into 17 points, while committing just six giveaways.
BYU won the rebounding battle 35-24 and shot the ball better — 48% to 42% — but TCU attempted a whopping 13 more shots (59-46) and came up with nine steals.
BYU overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half with a 14-0 run before the break and led by five some five minutes into the second half, but the Cougars couldn’t sustain much after that in a contest that featured 17 lead changes and 12 ties.
It was the third straight game in which the Cougars were held to fewer than 68 points.
“I don’t think there is one magic pill, so to speak. I think we have a lot of things that we need to get better at. Again, every game presents a different challenge,” Young said.
“We rebounded well tonight. …The other night we couldn’t make a shot, even though we didn’t turn it over (as much). We gotta trim the fat with the turnovers. We gotta be better there.”
Saunders shot the ball well, going 5 of 7 from deep, but the rest of the Cougars were 4 of 17 from beyond the arc, as both teams were 9 of 24 from 3-point range.
After Mag’s free throws with 15:58 to play, the Cougars missed two wide open 3-pointers (Trevin Knell and Egor Demin) and two shots in the paint to lose the lead.
Knell replaced Dallin Hall in the starting lineup but picked up two early fouls to scuttle Young’s plan a bit. Hall hit a couple 3-pointers and added six assists in 24 minutes, playing one of his best floor games of the season.
“I thought (Hall) had a good response to coming off the bench. The main reason for that was to get combinations of guys (they liked),” Young said. “So that is where that stemmed from. … But it is something that we are looking at. It is something that we are extremely mindful of. Honestly, I am still kinda searching for the right combinations of guys.”
BYU’s defense was simply awful the first 15 minutes of the first half, and TCU capitalized by making 7 of its first 11 3-point attempts — wide-open attempts — to jump out to a 33-23 lead.
The Cougars also turned the ball over eight times in the first half, leading to 10 TCU points.
Everybody will remember the final few minutes, but it was arguably the defensive lapses in the first 10 minutes that cost BYU the most. This was a winnable game, and a chance for a Quad 1 win because TCU’s NET ranking was 74 heading into Saturday.
Instead, BYU gave it away.
“Not having an edge was not the issue tonight,” Young said. “I thought our guys competed their tails off. It was back and forth there at the end. I thought our edge was where it needed to be, for the most part. There were a couple of guys that didn’t have it.”
In particular, the freshmen — Demin and Kanon Catchings (three points and three turnovers in nine minutes) continued to struggle, and Saunders didn’t get enough help in the scoring department.